The Cask of Amontillado
by RollingInTheDarkness
Summary: She had celebrated and the story had a happy ending. But the sequel is coming up, and it wasn't going to be pretty... [A RobRae Tragedy. Set after The End]


"HOW DARE SHE!?! HOW DARE SHE CONFINE ME TO THIS WORLD AGAIN?" Trigon broke another stone wall with his fist. Yes, he did have anger issues, but with good reason. His infantile daughter trapped him in this hell of a world. She had celebrated and the story had a happy ending. But the sequel is coming up, and it wasn't going to be pretty. He smiled as he thought of his idea. Maybe, just maybe, it would work. "Just a few more hours, daughter, and I'll see you again. Just a few more…"

Well, after the destruction of a few more walls, the hours were up. He contacted his ex-servant, Slade. Now, he shouldn't be able to do this. After all, he's trapped. But Trigon never plays cards without an ace up his sleeve, and the bets have been placed. He could walk out of it with a daughter to be in hell with him.

"Slade, how are you?" The ex-servant looked up and for a moment had a look of shock but it was quickly replaced by his usual stoic expression.

"Trigon, how pleasant to see you again. What are your plans this time, hmm? Take over the moon? Mars? How about the sun? After all, I beat you once, and I can do it again."

"No, my friend, you have it all wrong. It's not dimension domination, it's revenge." He spoke an incantation quickly as his power was soon to be gone. Talking across dimensions really drain the power from you. Soon, Slade was hearing and obeying his master. Trigon told Slade his plan and what he wanted. Within two shakes of a lamb's tail, Slade had vanished, doing his master's will.

'It will all soon be over. Very soon."

* * *

The Titans were at their tower, sleeping. They had been up all night fighting the H.I.V.E. and were exhausted. They each had said a weak "Good night" before retiring to their rooms. 

Slade had gotten to the island and prepared to enter the Tower. Now, in his right mind he would never do such a thing. "Never attack your enemy on their own turf. Let them come to you," was what his mentor always told him. He trudged around the island looking for an open window. He found it, Raven's window. Earlier when he first came to Jump City, he had done some observing on the city's heroes, learning their habits. It was never important until now. With the skill and grace of a cat, he climbed the five story Tower using a technique he had learned in Asia. Once reaching Raven's window, he listened for the shallow breathing that comes with sleep. After making sure she was asleep he climbed in, quietly and stealthily. Taking out a cloth that was dipped in Russian knock-out gas, he stuck it over her nose and mouth. She woke up then and tried to fight it away before the gas took a hold of her and carried her into unconsciousness. Slade heard a knock at the door.

"Raven, can you open the door. We need to talk."

It was Robin. How pleasant. 'I guess you can kill two birds with one stone.' He walked over to the door. Gripping the handle he thrust it open and hit Robin right below the breast bone, knocking the wind out of him. So surprising was the attack that Robin could not retaliate. He slumped to the floor, passed out. Slade grunted with disapproval. Now there were _two_ bodies to carry down the Tower. He threw the two birds over his shoulder and began the long trek down the tower and to the warehouse where he was now staying.

* * *

Half an hour later, they had arrived at warehouse # KB1024-ALUE42. Once Slade had reached his "home", he still didn't stop but started to head underground. Deeper and deeper he went until he had gone down about five-hundred feet. There he uncovered two pair of chains, concreted into the wall. Over one of the pair had the name, "Robin", and over the other, "Raven". They were both the same except that Raven's had the slightest red coloring in the metal although at first glance you would dismiss as being a trick of the eye. Slade attached them quickly as they could come to any moment. He then shackled their feet to the ground, preventing the slightest chance of escape. He then began one of the final and most time-consuming tasks of his mission, the Wall. He had laid down two tiers when Raven regained consciousness. At first she looked around as if in a haze, then the horrific reality of what had happened shook her awake. She discovered why her chains had the scarlet tint. It was a spell, a spell designed to rid the wearer of all superhuman abilities. Especially demonic powers. She nudged Robin awake, desperately hoping that maybe he could save her again.

"Robin, wake up. Robin, please, wake up!"

Robin, opened his eyes, and then wished he hadn't. He too saw where they were and the hopelessness of the situation before them. The bond between them didn't help as everything that Raven learned between her five minutes of consciousness hurt him. He spoke:

"Slade, why are you doing this? Even you wouldn't kill someone in cold blood." His voice didn't hold the usual stoic voice it had when it was leading the Titans into battle. This was a begging voice, pleading for their lives.

"Robin. Raven. So good of you to join me. I must say, I was becoming quite bored without someone to talk to." Slade was finished with the fourth tier reaching his waste. He took out a knife. Using it, he slashed through Robin's left arm and the bare skin of Raven's right leg.

"See, I'm not that cold-hearted. I'm speeding up your deaths so you won't be tortured for very long. Plus it won't leave your friends much time to find you." Sheathing his knife, he began again the tedious work of building the Wall.

Gasping with pain, Raven managed to ask, "Why? Why are you doing this now?" Slade looked up with a surprised expression on his face.

"Raven, you of all people should know. Your father didn't take to kindly to being thrown back into his dungeon. So he pleaded with me to kill both of you. I only agreed so that it would prove a saying, you _can_ kill two birds with one stone."

Taking out his knife again, he cut across Robin's chest and Raven's left arm. This time, instead of putting it up, he dropped it over the Wall where it stuck into the ground, beyond reach. The sixth tier was finished. Only two more left to go.

Words had escaped the two Titans as blood spurted out of their wounds. Raven started talking to Robin via their mind meld.

'Robin, I'm sorry that you had to die like this. If I could take your place and die for both of us, I would.'

'Don't be sorry. I wouldn't want to go with anyone else.'

'Will you miss, Starfire?'

'What do you mean by that?'

You might think that this conversation was unbecoming of the situation that they were in. However, it took their minds off the pain and the blood. They could ask for nothing more.

'There isn't any hidden meaning in my words, Robin. Will you miss your girlfriend?'

'Yeah, I'll miss her. I never got to tell her how I felt, though I don't know how this has to do with her.'

'You didn't like Starfire?'

'Nothing more than a friend.'

'Well, then, who did you wish could be your girlfriend?'

He thought about telling her and almost decided against it, but what did he have to lose? His life would soon be over; he already had lost his sight and the feeling in his fingers and toes.

'It…it was you, Raven.'

"Well, I'm finished with the Wall. Although you two aren't dead yet. Even in death, you managed to surprise me. I would stay and enjoy the show, but duty calls elsewhere. Goodbye forever." The last sounds of their former enemy were his boots as the graced the ground.

'Raven, please say something to me. Anything.'

'If only I had known, Robin. We might have been able to hang out more. Now, we will never be able to.'

'Raven, just answer this one question, please. Did you have feelings for me as well?' Robin held has breath the best he could while he waited for the answer.

'Yes, Robin. Since the day we met.'

* * *

They were found two months later by the rest of the Titans. Their bodies had partly decomposed and the stench of rotting flesh was intense. However, even the most black-hearted person couldn't have missed the rawest definition of love. When they found the bodies, they found four wounds cut with supposedly the knife stuck in the ground between them. Their arms had been dislocated from the weight of their bodies. Doctors would later say that the injury would have occurred right before death. Yet their two heads, which should have been slumped over on their chests, were resting on the other's head. And the faintest of smiles could still be seen etched across their face. 


End file.
